Antitrust

A U.S. appeals court has rejected Apple's latest bid to remove Michael Bromwich, the antitrust monitor installed at the company following their ebook antitrust case. Apple has tried to have Bromwich removed in the past, stating that he abuses his position.

Michael Bromwich, appointed by U.S. Judge Denise Cote in the wake of the anti-trust charges leveled against Apple for iBooks deals, is once again under fire in the op ed pages of a prominent publication. This time it's the Wall Street Journal, but the accusation remains the same — that Bromwich abused his role by investigating aspects of the company that have nothing to do with the case, and in the process has billed Apple over $2.65 million for his "services".

Canada's Federal Court has ordered Apple to give documents to the Canadian Competition Bureau, which is looking into the possibility that Apple unfairly used its market position to increase iPhone sales. The Bureau thinks that agreements between carriers and Apple may have harmed competition by encouraging certain price controls on rival devices,.

Apple is attempting to get a federal appeals court to overturn last year's judgment on Apple's role in ebook price fixing. The ruling saw, among other things, an external antitrust monitor installed at Apple, something that the company fought against. Apple SVP Eddy Cue, who negotiated deals with publishers for the iBookstore, has now spoken about the case, and why Apple is fighting so hard to overturn the ruling. Cue says that the rise in ebook prices is not evidence of collusion, according to Fortune:

Amazon.com has begun to notify customers who have purchased Kindle e-books from various publishers that they're entitled to a credit, as a result of the legal settlements reached with various e-book publishers in antitrust lawsuits.

Apple on Tuesday filed paperwork with the New York federal court to appeal a 2013 ruling that found the company in violation of antitrust laws regarding its iBooks publishing arrangements with major book publishers.

Apple's been trying to stop court-appointed antitrust monitor Michael Bromwich, put in place last summer to oversee the company's efforts to comply with a ruling against it in the e-book price fixing case. Looks like they're going to have to get used to him, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Apple is once again asking a federal appeals court to grant a stay on the work of court-appointed antitrust monitor, Michael Bromwich. While a temporary reprieve was granted two weeks ago, Apple hopes that the court will put Bromwich's work on hold until its decided whether or not he should have been placed at Apple to begin with

Apple has been temporarily spared the presence of an external antitrust monitor, initially placed at the company as part of the judgment in the U.S. government's case against Apple regarding ebooks. Apple has been fighting to remove the monitor, Michael Bromwich, since he was placed at the company last summer. The company believes that Bromwich is a disruptive and unnecessary imposition, according to Reuters:

Judge Denise Cote has imposed an injunction on Apple in the ebook price-fixing case, which, among other things, will install an external antitrust monitor for the company. Apple will also be required to end all agreements with the five major publishers that prevent Apple from lowering ebook prices. Reuters: